White House Honors Suicide Prevention Resource Center

NEWTON, MA | August 19, 2011

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) at EDC has been selected by the White House as a Champion of Change, part of President Obama’s Winning the Future Across America initiative. On August 25th, SPRC Director Jerry Reed and Associate Director Katie Wootten will join White House policy officials and others for a discussion of SPRC success stories and suicide prevention best practices in the private and public sectors.

In selecting SPRC as a Champion of Change, the administration described it as an organization “empowering and inspiring others in their communities” and cited “the work and passion of your organization in the area of suicide prevention [as] an outstanding example of President Obama’s vision to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.”

“I was so pleased to be invited to meet with administration officials and leaders from around the country to talk about suicide prevention,” said Reed, who has been an advocate for suicide prevention and promoting mental health for more than 15 years. “This honor helps keep the focus on the issue nationally, and on finding solutions to this public health problem. That’s how we’re going to prevent suicide in America.”

The White House Champions of Change program highlights U.S. groups, businesses, and organizations, ranging from educators to veterans to community activists. SPRC was chosen with other organizations who are working to prevent suicide, provide resources for communities, and educate individuals and groups across the country. SPRC and its work will be featured on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/champions.

Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), is a global nonprofit organization that designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and economic opportunity. EDC creates and manages 350 projects in 35 countries. Visit www.edc.org.